Laurel hedge

ymurrayplayfair

My neighbour has planted some laurel hedging up against the wall of my 1750s listed cottage (my wall goes into their garden). I am on clay soil .  Should I be worried since there are very shallow foundations 

GravelEater

We had a laurel hedge.  Was at the front of the garden, so quite some distance from the property.  We cut off all of the foliage, leaving maybe 2 ft tall trunks only.  It all grew back.  Eventually we took them out, roots had gone a good 12 ft up the garden!

I don't think this was a particularly sensible decision by your neighbour, to be honest.

However, portugese laurel, prunus lusitanica seems to be much less of a problem.  Keep the foliage tightly clipped and the roots won't get that big.